Tin Man
by V.E. on February 28th, 2012
filed under entertainment, recap/review
So I finally watched Tin Man, which has been on the list at least since last Ferbruary. T_T How come it takes me an entire year to do anything I want to do? Jesus, it’s no wonder I can’t keep a hold on anything important and mostly just end up putting out “this is urgent!” fires. Ugh.
All right, so. Tin Man is a science fiction, steampunk-ish, very much not-for-children retelling of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, most notably (but not completely) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It’s in three parts, each part a little over an hour and twenty minutes long, and as each part progresses, it moves progressively away from the original stories.
I liked the tin woodsman character—Cain. As the title character (in the foreground in this first image), I expected his backstory to be the most interesting, and I wasn’t disappointed. I liked the scarecrow character—Glitch. I even liked the cowardly lion character—Raw. DG, though, is… well, she felt like the weak link, except that she was the only reason the others were hanging out together, since they certainly wouldn’t have on their own. Hell, I even liked Akadelia, though I admit she was pretty much a cut-and-dried, run-of-the-mill villain. Her costuming was the most elaborate, but if you’re a sorceress/empress ruling all of the O.Z. (the Outer Zone), why not indulge a little and wear whatever the hell you want?
Speaking of Azkadelia: her character became simultaneously more complex and simpler as the story was revealed. I liked that I didn’t understand at first why she was conversing with herself, but I didn’t like that her motivation was, in my opinion, pretty spectacularly classic villainy “I’m going to blot out the sun and rule the world O.Z. bwahahaha BECAUSE I CAN” nonsense. I mean, her motivation wasn’t… very complicated. (Well, that’s not quite true, but the true villain of the story actually isn’t that complicated, and Azkadelia is that person for most of the proceedings, so. Like I said, Azkadelia’s character becomes simultaneously more complicated and less as the story goes on.)
One thing I thought was unfair was Azkadelia’s name compared to DG’s. I mean, seriously; they’re sisters: how can the elder be named Azkadelia, of all things, and the younger not feel inferior with a name like DG? That’s not really even a name; it’s just initials, for christ-sakes. Yes, yes; I know why she’s called that (and in case you don’t figure it out yourself, it’s revealed near the end of the third episode), but come on. I kept thinking someone would slip and finally call DG “Ozma” but my hopes were in vain. Ozma isn’t the grandest name in the book but you have to admit that it’s a better fighting name when it comes up against something like Azkadelia than DG is. Really, now.
I already mentioned my annoyance/discomfort with Neal McDonough, so let me just say that Tin Man in its entirety at least passed the Bechdel Test, but I’m not sure enough about the interactions between female characters that I can safely say that each episode passes. I’m pretty sure each ep. passes since Azkadelia speaks with the lavender-eyed woman about DG a lot, but I’m not 100%. If someone wants to double-check that for me, I’d be grateful.
The first episode was basically a rehashing of The Wizard of Oz we know and love, but with less singing. If you can get through that (maybe even enjoy Dorothy a’la the modern day—who knows?), the other two episodes are much more interesting, I think. Mostly, I just wanted more. I wanted more backstory, more scenic history, more complications, and more complicated characters. Two-dimensional characters are boring, and of the group, DG and Azkadelia were the most two-dimensional. DG just acted like a petulant child most of the time (and it usually worked out in her favor, so I guess that’s fine…) and Azkadelia, as I mentioned, is strange.
This mini-series is on par with Alice, another of SyFy’s retellings; not completely unforgettble, but at least worth my time. Of the recent SyFy miniseries, though, I still have to say Battlestar Galactica is the absolutely the best, with Dune coming in second place.
The Sound of Red Returning
by V.E. on February 8th, 2012
filed under politics, recap/review
The Sound of Red Returning
By Sue Duffy
Kregel Publications
09 December 2011
I was really excited to read The Sound of Red Returning because… well, MUSIC. Liesel Bower is a famed pianist who’s mentor was murdered for being a Russian spy. Fifteen years after the fact, she’s targeted for allegedly having an important piece of information that her deceased mentor may’ve accidentally left in her care—but she doesn’t know what it is, no one is telling her, and now she’s caught up in the international political intrigue between the United States and Russia. Where can she turn, except to her music?
I didn’t realize until after I’d requested this book that it’s the first in a trilogy. Well, at least it’s the first and not the second or third, right? I honestly don’t know how I feel about books that are first in a series when they don’t stand alone well, as I don’t think this one does. That is to say, it’s clear there’s something coming—the other two books in the trilogy, obviously—but I really want the first book to be the opening into a brand new world (like walking into a secret garden) and simultaneously a world in itself (like, you know, walking into a secret garden).
That aside, let’s talk about the story. I liked it. There are more than fifty chapters (not kidding!), but they’re short (usually no more than three pages), so it evens out. I like Duffy’s writing style. I wasn’t confused by the beginning as some other reviewers have been, so maybe that’s where I should shrug and say YMMV. I have some background-by-osmosis in classical music, so I didn’t have much trouble with that part of the story, either.
I was, of course, not surprised (and not really impressed) by the god stuff. I’m not going to lie, here: I’m not a Christian, and I sometimes feel like a spy myself while reading “Christian fiction”… I guess I’m always hoping that someone somewhere will write the gods the way I see them, but I’m obviously looking in the wrong places—not least because most/all Christians deny the existence of other gods besides theirs. That’s their prerogative, I guess, but I have yet to read any version of the Christian god that impressed upon me the need/desire to convert or even think about it more seriously than “What? Again?” Another reviewer wrote that (italics in the original)
The Sound of Red Returning made me meditate on my prayer life. It is not easy to grab for Jesus while running from danger. It is so much easier to learn about His character while life is quiet and simple.
I have actually found the opposite to be true in practice. It’s easy for my friends and loved ones to call upon Jesus or the Holy Spirit or their god (etc.) in times of great need—like when Liesl is running for her life—and then forget everything they said once they’re safe again, and it’s quiet and calm. I’m not saying I don’t do this, too, but I don’t claim to have the same relationship with Jesus as most people in the United States do, so. My relationships with my deities are more complicated than simply worship and loyal devotion. Not that that’s a bad thing, if that’s what you’re looking for, I guess, but the gods I follow would rather I have a brain than simply sit in the pew on Sunday mornings.
But I’ve gotten off-topic. Where was I? The Sound of Red Returning, right. Besides the god thing, I didn’t like the insertion of the romantic love interest—who doesn’t even show up until chapter nine (page 58, to be precise). It seemed… contrived, I guess. And I don’t think that the CIA and other official authorities would’ve allowed Cade and his grandfather—decent characters though they may have been—anywhere near Liesl until after the spy thing had been resolved. I’m just sayin’. And speaking of the CIA; I don’t work for the government in any capacity, but someone else mentioned that the agents were portrayed as bumbling… I, sadly, have no problem imagining the actual, real-life CIA being so unorganized and ill-fitted for their work. I mean, the phrase “It’s good enough for government work” exists for a reason.
Overall, I think this book was okay. The writing was the high point for me, and the music. The story? Eh. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s not the best thing I’ve ever read, either.
DISCLAIMER: I received The Sound of Red Returning free from LitFuse Publicity in return for a review of the book. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Read other reviews and learn more about the book on the blog tour’s main page.
Sex Slave
by V.E. on February 3rd, 2012
filed under recap/review
I picked up Sex Slave directly from the author at Yaoi-Con 2011. I was trying to decide among a few of her novels when I mentioned that I’m a writer, too, and I wanted to show my support because us writers have to stick together. She seemed pleased and even knocked a dollar each from the two novels I ended up buying.
I had a plane flight to New York from Los Angeles and since I couldn’t fit my original book choice (“The Complete Sherlock Holmes”—yes, really) into my bag, I was pleased to bring with me instead the more compact Sex Slave. I read the 196-page novel from cover to cover during the trip (and was then left with the dilemma of what to read on the flight home!).
Let’s not mistake this, though the title would presumably make that difficult: Sex Slave is erotica. Of the gay variety. AKA: woo hoo! There’s no doubt about it. It’s fantasy. A captain in the king’s army takes in the 
only survivor of a group of bandits that his (the captain’s) men have all killed. It turns out that the bandits had been using this captive as a sex slave and he’s been so traumatized that he cowers at the very sight of other men… including all of the captain’s soldiers. The captive has no memory of his past life and so Captain Marinel names him Kitten and the story follows that he tries to re-acclimatize Kitten to freedom while simultaneously trying to find any information about his new ward’s past—his name, his birthplace, anything.
Kitten’s entire existence (as much as he can remember, since he remembers nothing before the bandits’ camp), however, has been as a sex slave, so Marinel’s plans immediately go awry when he discovers that the only way to help Kitten feel like he’s safe is to have sex with him. (I did say erotica, didn’t I? Enter sexy times.) When they return to the kingdom, Marinel and Kitten move into the captain’s aunt’s house mansion and proceed to grapple with Kitten’s past trauma—and his past life before his time as a captive.
Sex Slave is a fast read; I read the entire thing in less than six hours (though I admit I was a captive audience, sitting in a window seat of an aeroplane). First, the things I didn’t like. As a person who’s personally experienced sexual violence, I found Kitten’s reaction to men (that is, abject terror and subservience in the service of survival) to be completely realistic—and I found Captain Marinel’s reaction to Kitten (basically, he becomes a stand-in for the bandit king after his death) to be completely heinous. Marinel does feel guilt for his actions toward Kitten later in the novel, but he never stops having sex with him or takes him to see a physician. The time period sort of implies the lack of the existence of psychiatrists or psychologists, but I would have thought that Marinel would’ve tried someone before just deciding that Kitten was his and that he was going to defend the kid from his (admittedly abusive) family-ties.
Now, the things I liked. Putting aside that I found it personally difficult to suspend my disbelief regarding the captain’s dealings with Kitten (other readers may not have the same problem), the story was pretty good. I really, really loved Marinel’s aunt, Lady Faline. She’s possibly the greatest character in the whole novel. I was really happy to read a sympathetic female character in a gay romance novel. Truly, it was the highlight of the story. Faline takes both Marinel (her adopted nephew) and Kitten under her wing without so much as lifting an eyebrow, and she stays stubbornly loyal to them throughout the plot, though at times she may act as loyal opposition. She made the novel worth it for me (though, don’t get me wrong, here: I like me some man-on-man sex, same as the next girl). Also, having a horse (that is, Thunder, Captain Marinel’s warhorse) that can basically understand you is pretty fantastical—and pretty awesome.
Overall, I wasn’t disappointed. I mentioned buying two novels by the same author, and reading Sex Slave did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for reading the other, Sacrifice, which is looking like it may actually be the better of the two. I may just take it with me next time I have time to kill.
You can buy Sex Slave now on Lulu for just $10.99 plus shipping. You can also visit the author’s website for her other work. (Click on the cover image—not the same cover I have for my copy, but it’s similar—to visit her tumblr as well.)
Yaoi-Con 2011
by V.E. on December 30th, 2011
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
I attended Yaoi-Con this year at the waterfront Marriott in Burlingame, California (within 15 minutes driving distance of the San Francisco International Airport) this past weekend—21-23 October 2011. I had a good time and even made some new friends, maybe!
If you don’t know what yaoi is, read about it before you continue. Seriously. With that warning: here’s my recap.
General impressions—the basic overview
Thoughts from the video room & manga library
The loot I had to haul home!
Yaoi-Con 2011: the loot I had to haul home!
by V.E. on December 30th, 2011
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
This post is part of my Yaoi-Con 2011 recap.
So, I had to haul home a bunch of stuff, and I only took a carry-on bag with me (like hell I’m paying $25+ for checking my luggage), and I just barely managed to get all my manga and cool shit in my bag and then carry it around with me all the way back home. Seriously, it weighed like fifty pounds. I’m not kidding: books are like bricks. By the end of the return trip, my arms were killing me. Here’s where I link everything so you can get some awesome for yourself, too, if you so desire. (Click images for larger.)
Starting from the left side and going down, in columns:
Simoun, complete series. a lesbian mech anime… sort of? I think?
Let’s Draw Manga: Yaoi, by Botan Yamada. oh yes; yes, I did.
small Fullmetal Alchemist State Military watch replica on a long chain
Finder 5: Truth in the Viewfinder, by Ayano Yamane. got this at the DMP booth and then got home and realized I didn’t have #4! (I do now, though, so it’s all fine. ^_^)
Princess Princess, complete series. the anime is better than the liveaction version, trust me.
Loveless, complete series. a classic I told myself I would pay for next time I saw it legal and cheap, so here it is.
Yaoi Magazine, vol.1 issue 2 (April 2008). don’t know what happened, but I don’t think this mag is being printed anymore.
9th Sleep, by Makoto Tateno. as you’ll notice, I got a couple of manga by her, actually.
Ludwig II 2, by You Higuri. picked up the first one last year at Yaoi-Con.
King of Debt, by Sanae Rokuya. a collection of stories; I’ve been told it… gets to the point, if you know what I mean.
Dost Thou Know?, by Satoru Ishihara. two sets of brothers… and loooove; how can I go wrong?
Little Butterfly omnibus, by Hinako Takanaga. read the entire thing at the last Yaoi-Con (2010) and figured I should pony up.
Blue Sheep Reverie 1, by Makoto Tateno. no idea; I just liked the name.
Ooku 1, by Fumi Yoshinaga. interesting premise, so I had to get it.
A Foreign Love Affair, by Ayano Yamane. pretty sure she just writes the same story over and over, but it works, so…
Looking at the top half first, from left to right:
Morgan Hawke‘s The Cheater’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance & her (really!) short novel Security Issues.
two mini fanart stickers of Bunny (top) and Tiger from the anime Tiger & Bunny.
two badges from Scuttlebutt Ink, Kamina (“Hero”) from Gurren Lagann and Utena (“Duelist”) from Utena.
four Hetalia fanart postcards by Belligerent Design, featuring…
Germany: “Having the wurst time in Germany”
Britain: “England: You’ll come for the magic… you’ll stay for our huge clock”
America: “America… F*** YEAH!”
Prussia: “There’s nothing (but awesome) in Prussia. No, literally there’s nothing there.”
four games from Hanako Games: Date Warp (actually an interactive novel), Science Girls! (an RPG), Magical Diary: Horse Hall, and Cute Knight Kingdom. All four games are playable on both Macs and PCs, I supported a small game company by buying them, and I got a deal for all four, so I’m happy. (‘Cept, you know, I still haven’t actually played any of them yet. T_T)
The bottom half, from left to right:
a print of one of the characters in Inner Edge, by TACTO.
Close to you, an anthology. gotta love my story/comic collections.
Inner Edge and an Inner Edge doujinshi called Dreamless.
In three rows, from left to right (beginning with top left):
a fanart poster of Heero Yuy (left) and Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing by Bing Lin. on the right, it reads “as time stands still…”
Always Raining Here 1, by Bell & Hazel.
an awesome print of recent violence by Lisa Cheng.
Lust for Freelance 1, by Madeleine Graham.
In These Words 5 by Guilt|Pleasure, plus two little G|P buttons.
Father Figure, also by Guilt|Pleasure. read it on the spot at Yaoi-Con—very good, if you don’t mind a little incest thrown in for good measure.
(see below for the comic to the right of Father Figure.)
two Sephiroth/Cloud (FFVII) fancomics, “Happy Birthday Sephiroth” and “Blonde Ambition: the Fitting Room” by owmyhearteries.
the first two volumes of Hondeydew Syndrome, by new shoe. looks promising, though I noticed already that the authors spelled “know” as no and no one caught it before the volumes were printed.
and lastly, “Flesh Games” and (above it) “Nice Guts” vol.0, by Agnes Czaja.
The top row:
two novels, Sex Slave and Sacrifice, both by MomsDarkSecret. told her I was a writer, too, and she knocked $2 off the total price. us writers gotta stick together. ^_^
soap from RosaleenDhu Designs: Butler (a’la Kuroshitsuji), Descent Into Madness (Chthulu, anyone?), Yaoi (smells like lemons!), and Fruit Pi (oh, how punny).
a piece of rainbow cake and a piece of pumpkin pie on red strings, by Sugar Clay Cafe.
a beautiful Halloween-colors handsewn handbag. now to just figure out what to wear when I use it!
an “I <3 YAOI" bow tie. honest-to-gods, I’m not making that up. expensive, but it was truly the best purchase of my entire trip. not that I’ll ever wear it, but still.
In the center:
Starfighter Cain and Abel print by Hamletmachine! /squeeeeee… also got a preorder of chapter 2, so when it prints, they’ll ship it to me and I’ll just get a surprise in the mail one day!
To the left of center (and below):
the first three chapters of Scuttlebutt Ink’s Mahou Shonen Fight: “Magically Ill”, “Proper Motivation”, and “Ambiguous”…
Right of center (and below):
a votre sante, compiled by JM. interesting premise that I’d like to see continued with non-alcoholic drinks.
print of a beaten up Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing by sir-fish. the print reads “GUNDAM 02 DUO MAXWELL”
————
And that (finally!) concludes my Yaoi-Con 2011 write up! Yay. Have a great new year, guys.
One Paragraph 4
by V.E. on December 24th, 2011
filed under anime/manga, entertainment, one paragraph
The Immortals, Book 1: Wild Magic (finished 24 December 2011)
I started this book on a trip to San Francisco in late October—there’s still a plane ticket sticking out of it, actually—and didn’t actually read it until later in the year. A friend of mine recommended this book to me as a good introduction to Tamora Pierce’s writing. I remember when the Circle of Magic books were published around the time I was in junior high; they were popular but I never read them. Wild Magic isn’t bad; I can find nothing glaringly wrong with it, at least, except that it is—quite obviously—simply an introduction. (There are three other books in “The Immortals” series.) I’d read the others (or, at least, the second) if they showed up on my desk somehow, but I probably won’t seek them out.
Red Riding Hood (viewed at home 10 December 2011)
A retelling of the ancient fable that’s part drama, part mystery—with a dash of romance for flavor. I was pleasantly surprised to see Galactica‘s Tigh in the film, though I wish he’d played a bigger part. The film itself was all right—I didn’t immediately figure out who the werewolf was, but I’m not adept at mysteries, so there’s that. I wasn’t really surprised when it was revealed. Definitely a fantasy, but not in an overt kind of way, which I liked. Also, I kind of liked the ending; romantic, in a strange sort of way, though I can see why it wasn’t well-received at the box office. Whatever. It was all right. Not “super awesome you must see this right now”, but okay.
Twilight: Breaking Dawn, part 1 (viewed in theaters 26 November 2011)
I don’t care enough about this series (the books or the movies) to give it more than a mention here. It wasn’t a good movie. In fact, it was pretty spectacularly bad—bad characterization (there is none), bad for women (are you kidding me, S.Meyer?), and a non-existent plot—and this is still the only series that involves vampires that has ever made me root for someone not the vampires. I mean, really. It’s just pathetic. This is the first movie in the series that I didn’t (attempt to) read the book beforehand. I’m pretty sure reading the book was unnecessary, since the very first Twilight movie was actually an improvement over the book upon which it was based. Just… ugh, Twilight; ugh.
Sleeping With Money (finished at home early November 2011)
I’ve said I’m not really one for yakuza/gangster stories, and yet recently I’ve read a few without even seeking them out. I don’t know why that keeps happening. Either way, this novel was… eh: so so. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. That might have been the translation (it was translated from the original Japanese), but I just… didn’t really get into it. I finished it, but the most it had going for it was the pictures (seck-say woo woo) and my desire to finish things I start. Otherwise, meh.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (viewed at home 14 November 2011)
Made me want scream. I realize the documentary is slanted against the MPAA, but seriously… it wasn’t like these guys had to try very hard to make the Association look bad. If the stuff in this documentary is true, the MPAA rating system—and its implicit censorship and the use of complete secrecy—is complete bullshit. Also, way to go, sexist/anti-gay/anti-sex movie industry… of which the MPAA is only a symptom. Made me want to just strangle someone. You think violence is okay and sex somehow isn’t? Not going to lie: that’s pretty fucked up. I’ll give you some violence. /garrrrrrr /tears out hair
Ten Years
by V.E. on December 12th, 2011
filed under fyi, meta, personal, recap/review, school, thoughts
I’ve had this journal online, in some form, since 12 December 2001. That makes today my tenth birthday. I’m double digits, guys!
I really wish I’d thought of this ahead of time because I would have commissioned some art or something from one of my artist friends to post here as a birthday present to myself. It’s not every day a website turns ten years old, after all. ^_^
Unfortunately, I didn’t plan anything, so: here, have a clip art birthday (cup)cake instead. (I couldn’t even find one with ten candles haha. One candle, yes, obviously. Five? Yes. Even seven and eight candles, but not ten. Oh well.)
I’m ancient, in internet time.
Here’s to ten more years! I’m sure they’ll be as interesting as the last ten.
